


Conditional Humanity

by killunary



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: #BLACKLIVESMATTER, #NoJusticeNoPeaceNoRacistPolice, Gen, Officer Canary AU, Tsubone and Amane have no speaking lines but, are very much present in the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-23 22:22:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7482213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killunary/pseuds/killunary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She wouldn't give her blackness up for anything. Not even for guaranteed safety in America.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Conditional Humanity

**Author's Note:**

> So I was looking up Kendrick Lamar's 2016 Grammy Performance on YouTube when I saw this video that had something along the lines of "Don Lemon discusses Kendrick Lamar's Grammy Performance" and then I remembered this tumblr post of a gif set of Don Lemon speaking out against police brutality and bust out laughing cuz I remembered one of the replies to the gif set was a twitter screenshot where a user was all like "Don Lemon: The Blackening". The first time I read "Don Lemon: The Blackening" I laughed so fuckin hard fam!! Lol cuz apparently the nigga has a history of coonin judging by the black community's shocked reaction to him calling out police brutality. I'm unaware of the coonish shit he's said in the past but lol you'd think he wasn't a coon cuz the nigga was straight preachin! But anyways I'm really glad I went through with my idea to watch Kendrick's Grammy performance as well as Bey and Kendrick's BET performance before I started writing "" cuz watching those performances really pumped me up just like I thought they would. Bey though man.... That woman is the definition of a performer though fam like that goddess had me in awe. I loved listening to Freedom as I wrote An Unsaid Message, Misgivings, and "" cuz listening to it really fueled my anger and hurt and made me write out some really good shit. #BlackLivesMatter #NoJusticeNoPeaceNoRacistPolice

“And now, a word from the academy’s top student this year, Canary Cassells.”

 

The crowd erupted in applause, the elation Canary felt as she stared into the beaming, proud faces of Amane and Tsubone indescribable. Amane, who had been holding her hand since they seated themselves, gave her hand a squeeze of encouragement. Canary smiled at her, giving her a quick hug before getting up and beginning her walk toward the stage.

 

The applause came to an end when Canary took to the podium, heart racing with happiness and excitement as she took in the faces of the now hushed throng. Canary couldn’t figure out why the black faces in the audience made her stomach twist. She couldn’t put a name to those faces and the woman was sure the feeling was mutual and yet their eyes and countenances were teeming with rapture. Anyone else observing them would’ve thought Canary was a close relative of theirs. Canary had done them proud and as a black woman, making the black community feel uplifted and empowered in whatever way possible was a pleasure. So why was she suddenly feeling so sick?

 

As a child, seeing officers that looked like her instilled so much joy within Canary. Staring at the young, innocent black faces, Canary wondered if looking at her made these children feel the same way. The thought of being some semblance of an inspiration to her community made her heart flutter.

 

Canary’s eyes shifted to instead scan the faces of the people that for centuries, hated her people. Anyone with eyes could see that that hatred had yet to dissipate. Slavery had been abolished and with it, white people’s violent, immoral outlet for their animosity toward her people. They’d never willingly relinquish the power they’d gain from racism, however and so, sought to continue perpetuating it through more subtle means. Subtle racism was just as bad, just as destructive as it was in its overt, unapologetic form. Growing up, Canary had been more than privy to the way white officers looked at her people. The slight narrow of their eyes, downturn of the lip, fingertips brushing against their holster. Canary didn’t need to be a witness to the officers’ behavior around citizens of their appearance to know they were allowing their racism to leak to the surface.

 

Should Canary ever leave the badge she would soon be given at home and passed through the streets, she knew she’d be susceptible to possible mistreatment by white officers. Heh, they’d have no evidence of her status as a cop so of course they’d give into their racism and mistreat her like they did every other black denizen on the street.

 

One of the biggest ironies in American history to Canary was Thomas Jefferson putting pen to paper for the Declaration of Independence and writing “all men were created equal” while he was owning slaves at the time. And Jefferson using the Three-Fifths Compromise to win presidency made him even more unfavorable a man in Canary’s eyes. Her people’s humanity had been stripped from them entirely in the past but now the very thing that ought to be unconditional was attached to terms and conditions. For a while now post-slavery white society had been trying to pass off emulation of whiteness as the solution to black peoples’ lives being valued.

 

“Talk like us!”

 

“Dress like us!”

 

“Act like us!”

 

“Pull your pants up!”

 

Canary gripped the podium angrily. It was all a load bullshit! For god’s sake, why couldn’t they just spare her their “solutions” and just outright say “Don’t in any way be black!”!? At least then they were being 100% honest, instead of disguising their racism. Angry tears welled up in Canary’s eyes. She closed her eyes, taking a deep, calming breath before releasing it. Opening her eyes again, the graduate absorbed a congregation of awkward, confused faces, some people leaning over to their neighbor to whisper unknown words all while keeping their eyes on her. Canary looked over at Amane, concern now in the place of pride and ecstasy. Tsubone was far more subtle in displaying her worry for Canary, the slight shift in her wrinkles more than likely to be overlooked by a stranger but detected instantly by Canary’s watchful eye. She just wanted to run off the stage and into their arms.

 

Squaring her shoulders, Canary took one last deep breath before putting on her best, albeit forced, smile. “Forgive me for my silence.”

**Author's Note:**

> "What's the difference in complying if you get killed anyway?"  
> -Valerie Castile  
> #BlackLivesMatter #NoJusticeNoPeaceNoRacistPolice


End file.
